The present invention relates in general to modifying a database of images and a content repository in a content delivery system. In particular, the invention relates to the process of enabling a content provider to automatically modify the database of images, the content repository, and the correspondences between images and content in the content delivery system without human intervention.
Typically, a content delivery system enables the user of a communication device to obtain content related to an image the user has captured through a camera of the communication device. For example, if the user of the communication device captures an image of a movie poster through the camera of the communication device, and sends the captured image to the content delivery system, the content delivery system sends the user content related to the movie. This content can be, for example, a text message containing the plot of the movie, an audio clip from the movie's soundtrack, a still image of a scene from the movie, a video clip containing the movie's trailer, etc. In another scenario, a user of the communication device may come across an image on the Internet and may want to get information related to the image. For example, a user finds an image of a solar flare released by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and is interested in getting all the content available from NASA related to the solar flares. The content can include causes of solar flares, their classifications, hazards, etc.
Conventionally, to deliver content related to the image it receives from the communication device, the content delivery system matches the image with all the images stored in its image database. The image database can store thousands of images from magazines, posters, newspapers, the Internet, etc. For example, the image database can store the images of wall posters and billboard advertisements corresponding to a particular movie ‘X’. In addition, the content repository can, for example, store a text summary of the plot of movie ‘X’. Consequently, when the content delivery system receives the image of the poster of the movie ‘X’ from a communication device, it matches the received image with all the images stored in its image database. When the content delivery system determines that the received image matches the image of a wall poster of movie ‘X’, it sends the text summary of the plot of movie ‘X’ to the communication device. However, if the image sent by the communication device is not of a wall poster or billboard advertisement of movie ‘X’, the content delivery system is not able to match the received image with any of the images. In this event, the content delivery system sends a response, such as a text message saying, “No information available for the image” to the communication device.
The content delivery system is more useful if it can be adapted over time to meet the changing requirements of content providers. For example, a movie studio may develop new posters after the initial posters have been completed, or it may wish to change the content that is to be delivered for a particular movie poster. In order to provide this flexibility, the content delivery system needs to allow changes to the image database, the content repository, and the rules mapping images to content.
Active human involvement is required in conventional content delivery systems to regularly update the image database. For example, content providers need to first send the latest images and the content to the administrators of the content delivery system. Thereafter, a person has to manually update the image database by adding the new images and content. This process of manually updating the image database and content repository causes unnecessary delay or waste of labor, since the person involved in updating the image database can be more profitably utilized for other useful work. Also, a manual process may allow errors to occur through miscommunication or other factors.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need for a method and system that can resolve the limitations mentioned above.